Collaborative Writing Prompts

[Jesse Michener]

I thought we might have a brainstorm this week and collaborate a list of engaging writing prompts. If you're game, reply to this message with your favorite way to get the juices flowing.

Have a great day!

Jesse

[quaz]

Originally Posted by Jesse Michener

I thought we might have a brainstorm this week and collaborate a list of engaging writing prompts. If you're game, reply to this message with your favorite way to get the juices flowing.

Have a great day!

Jesse

Not sure I have a clear picture of what you are asking. If ya mean just how do I get the juices flowing... well, I just come up with a topic and go from there....basically similar to this board. (anger, confusion, midnight, moon, wind, fate, whatever...). If the topic isn't one that works for me that day, then I move to a different topic. So, the writing assignment about the time post-partum... the topic was one that I couldn't engage in well, b/c it just wasn't 'calling' to me... well, it was, but all I had was some of the negative emotions of dealing with a colicky, HN's child. I guess to get past that, I just forced myself to sit down and write.


I guess, my writing prompt is to keep things as free as possible to allow myself the most creativity to write whatever... that keeps me from getting stuck.

Is that what you're looking for, or something else??

[zenfulmama]

writing prompts

i enjoyed the writing prompts that tanya taylor gave us in the previous workshop...some of my favorites were: what I love...what I hate...fire...Since I got so much from these I would say that very broad, open topics reel me in, and get me going with enough space to feel uninhibited...such as, the scent of rain...when you cry...i get angry when...i feel happy when...etc. I really liked your earliest memory theme...and indeed feel that the whole process of describing memories is what we do as writers-- in a sense even in fiction, the visualization is an actualization... describing previous memories can only set us on the path of narrative.

[quaz]

Ah... understand now....thanks zenful. :-)

So, basically anything simple, that can be interpreted many dimensions...

I didn't care for the birthing section, b/c I just couldn't be creative... more expository/documentary for me... Same with my earliest memory... too documentary.

The simpler the better.

rainfall, wind, ocean, heartbeat, fire, a horrible day, wonderful day, pride, hatred, love....

For me, though, it also helps when the simple theme is then elaborated a little like...

Take one of these three arbitrary objects and incorporate one into a writing piece as creatively as possible... choose between a red shovel, a blue balloon, or green leaf.

pride is an emotion that can cause positive or negative results... write two short pieces... focusing on each result

the wind can be light and airy and alive like a spring breeze, and can be part of a torrential rain storm, it can cause disaster in an instant by knocking down a power line, or can erode rocks over time... there are so many facets and aspects of the wind.... take one aspect and incorporate it into a writing piece.

Write a small piece of children fiction, or write a children's poem. Use these 10 words in it.... rainbow, bear, river, sniff, growl, etc....

That little bit of elaboration gets things going for me... anything like that, and then I can just let my mind expand on it, and come up with something creative, and something I just wouldn't have thought of.... I can incorporate whatever I want from my reality (or not).... as opposed to something that is tell me about a time you felt hatred...


Tammy

[Bethla]

Music, looking through old photos...

[BelovedK]

What about writing about the things that scare you the most...Your shadows.
What would it be like if you took that step, it came true, etc, etc.

Can we post our creative musings on this thread, or will you start another one?

I just got back from a trip where i took a loooonnnnggg drive and found myself filled with the most creative ideas when i couldn't write them down (swerve...whoops) So the kids are still with their dad and i have the rest of the afternoon free, maybe i'll get to my writing (if i don't fall asleep)

Butterflies crossing your path, dragonflies landing on your leg, how clouds look from a distance when it's raining, How clouds look when it's not raining, shaving your legs, hairy armpits, crossing bridges.

Those are a few....... :

[violafemme]

Originally Posted by zenfulmama

i enjoyed the writing prompts that tanya taylor gave us in the previous workshop...some of my favorites were: what I love...what I hate...fire...Since I got so much from these I would say that very broad, open topics reel me in, and get me going with enough space to feel uninhibited...such as, the scent of rain...when you cry...i get angry when...i feel happy when...etc. .

I'd agree with zenfulmama, the broader the better. I like the wiggle room. I like to straddle fact and fiction and these kind of prompts let me do that.

Oh and BelovedK, I wrote a poem about shaving my legs a few years ago, I'll try to post it (if I can find it)

Prompts:

Wasabi green..........
Afternoon tea.........
My grandmother's teeth.............
Evening prayer...........
Through the fog of a very bad cold...........

[sunset]

Originally Posted by violafemme

Wasabi green..........
Afternoon tea.........
My grandmother's teeth.............
Evening prayer...........
Through the fog of a very bad cold...........

thats poetic in itself....

Lately I am randomly picking up a book, opening a page and pointing , then giving myself 20 minutes on that as a warm up, or taking the first line of a book..

If Uncle Eddie says one more time.....
He was the farmer and the teacher.....
To me, to be happy , is to.....
The distance between us grows......

[BelovedK]

Impending Thunderstorm...

Dedicated to 'her'


Present in the air like a thin soup,
I inspire deeply the sensation,
Scent of the oncoming rain.

Large droplets falling on my arms,
Looming clouds, a luscious grey/ brown,
Impending thunderstorm.

Present in his eyes, alive in his talk,
She sniffs around the feet
of a newly freed man.

Angry tears squeeze out of my eyes,
Looming ugliness, a dull wasabi green,
Impending thunderstorm.

Present in my thinking, like a tumor,
She mops up profuse drops,
As he cries in her parlour.

Weeping inside, yet holding up my head,
Looming breakdown, black as spilled ink,
Impending thunderstorm.

Present in the realities of our children,
She takes their tiny hands,
As i pace the floor of my empty house.

Showers pass, soaking my clothes,
Looming emptiness, smoky lonliness,
Impending thunderstorm.




(i tried to use a few of the prompts in this poem...see if you can find them :LOL )

[quaz]

BelovedK- Like the poem. :-)


Jesse- I think two of the problems is

a) there just haven't been many topics lately... so the memory thing, was about a 15 minute write in the course of a few weeks.

b) if I or another user decides... oh, I have a poem on rain, and want to post it... or want to start a thread on rain... it is not possible too. I think we'd see a lot more writing in this forum, if people could start their own threads.... for example BelovedK's poem would have been a great start to a thread...is there a reason that is not allowed? I think it's still important to have a weekly writing assignment, but there are times a particular assignment just doesn't peak someone's creative juices. Too often the forum seems to go to a dead stop b/c people are done writing on a topic, and they can't really start their own posts.


Tammy

[quaz]

Ugh...

'two of the problems is'.... excuse the grammar... I started off with the word one and changed it to two...

[Mindyleigh]

My most effective process for poetry...

is to write letters down the page and use them to prompt the lines. Without fail, this process results in writing I feel gratified by and keeps my line-breaks creative and my mind searching for interesting words. I wrote this recently...one of four or five in the same day. It seems to be a quick process for me, which I definitely appreciate, now that I have four kidlets.

(Don't remember the title..!)

Yesterday's tomorrow
Open-ended.
Undulating fantasies

Bravely stubborn.
Every meaning
Lengthens into space.
Owing you this debt
Nature dictates balance.
Gift yourself.

Tell me
Ornate strands of gems.

Mark this sacred space.
Every in-between.

(c) 2005 Mindy Goorchenko :

[BelovedK]

Thanks Quaz

Mindy, I love doing acrostic poems, they do get the writing juices flowing, I really like yours, it shows creative uses for the words.

Jesse, I too would love to be able to start threads here, I think alot more people would write. BTW, I like this topic, it gives more than just one idea to go by. : :

[lavender]

I'm so glad to be back to this forum after a summer off! A hip injury kept me from sitting comfortably for almost a month, and then life just got away from me trying to catch up with everything...

Some of the most fun writing prompts I've come up with for myself involve observing strangers and then using my imagination. For example...

Start with a snippet, maybe just a line, of overheard conversation between two people and expand on it in whatever direction your imagination takes you. The more unusual the line, the better.

Go to a cafe or another public place where you can pick a person who looks interesting (or ordinary) and write him or her into a scene from your own life, or theirs.

Do a character sketch of a stranger, trying to make his or her personality predictable based on what he/she looks like, then do it again, making it full of surprises.

That's from when I was having fun with fiction.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the open-ended prompts also. I've done some work on "earliest memory" and really liked that (though haven't yet posted). Yes, memories are good. I also would enjoy working from dream imagery, but I don't know if most people remember as many dreams as I do.

Here's a few more, going with both of those ideas:

FIrst kiss...
September mornings...
I knew I shouldn't, but I [did]...
My mother gave me...

Describe any particularly vivid dream, focusing on:
the relationship between you and the people in it,
emotion,
color,
senses, and/or
setting
...not necessarily searching for meaning but getting the "experience" down on paper in the form of a poem or short story.

What a great idea to share prompts. I'm enjoying all those I've read so far--thank you!

[Jesse Michener]

I love this thread. Thanks for the wonderful prompts. I'm sending Cynthia some ideas I had about the board today, and one of them is the idea that you should be able to start your own threads. I'm not sure how it all jives with what they intended for the board, but we'll see! For now, I'm going to break out the ideas into threads and let's have some fun!

Jesse

[quaz]

Thanks!!

I really do think opening the board to posts would make a differnce... there can still be great writing prompts, sessions... .. anyway, if it doesn't happened, at least it was tried. Well, off to read the new writing 'assignments'. :-)

One other idea on the prompts... we can still do 'series' of things. We could do a series on emotions (hate, love, hope, frustration, etc) .... or things from our past... or nature (wind, rain, snow, leaves, whatever)... or whatever... have 4-8 weeks of weekly prompts from that area. That coupled with a few other writing prompts or people posting things, would be pretty cool.

Tammy

[BelovedK]

Originally Posted by quaz

Thanks!!

I really do think opening the board to posts would make a differnce... there can still be great writing prompts, sessions... .. anyway, if it doesn't happened, at least it was tried. Well, off to read the new writing 'assignments'. :-)

One other idea on the prompts... we can still do 'series' of things. We could do a series on emotions (hate, love, hope, frustration, etc) .... or things from our past... or nature (wind, rain, snow, leaves, whatever)... or whatever... have 4-8 weeks of weekly prompts from that area. That coupled with a few other writing prompts or people posting things, would be pretty cool.

Tammy